Bhopal: Snag-Hit Vande Bharat: 11-Hour Delay Sparks Passenger Protest At Rani Kamlapati Station

Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): Passengers of the Delhi-bound Vande Bharat Express created a ruckus at Rani Kamlapati Railway station after its departure was delayed by 11 hours on Monday. Furious over not been communicated about the train’s status, angry passengers squatted on railway tracks and stormed into the officers’ room.

Rani Kamalapati (Habibganj)–Hazrat Nizamuddin Vande Bharat Express was to leave Rani Kamalapati railway station (RKP) at 5.50am, but it finally left for New Delhi at 4.30pm, around 11 hours from the schedule departure. The delay was attributed to a technical fault in the spring of a coach, which took over 17 hours to fix it.

The passengers claimed that they were not given any information by the railways about what time the train would leave. Whether it would even leave or not? Officials said that when Vande Bharat Express returned to Bhopal from Hazrat Nizamuddin at 10:16 pm on Sunday, it was reported that the spring of coach number C-11 was broken. The train was taken to the yard located at Rani Kamlapati and it took 17 hours to repair the fault which led to delay.  

The train which was to leave at 5.50 in the morning, finally departed to Delhi 11 hours late, i.e. 4.30pm. The passengers, many of whom had arrived well in advance of the scheduled departure, voiced their anger over the lack of communication from authorities over the delay in the train’s departure. The passengers grew furious as the train’s departure kept getting delayed. Angry passengers created a ruckus in the officers' room at noon. Some of the passengers even squatted on the railway tracks at platform number 1 as a mark of protest. A few passengers even tried to board the Shatabdi Express but RPF jawans forcibly made them deboard the train.